We just booked our trip to Ireland for July!

Now looking at hotels.

We like the looks/location of the Shelbourne, and can get rate of 206E/Nt, 183E if prepay all but NO changes allowed, which scares me - you lose everything if something causes you to change dates.

We also are looking at Brook's Hotel, but it seems to have some iffy reviews, and although overall location is good, people say the actual street location is not great - beside a car park down an alley... We can get 1285E for the week for an Executive Double.

Any others we should look at with similar quality? St. Stephen's Green area sounds great and central, and a little away from madness such as Temple Bar (we are in our 50s).

We also don't want to spend a ton - 150E - 200E is our max budget.

We are not opposed to smaller hotels, in fact our favorites have always been smallish (under 50 rooms) boutique type hotels, but not austere modern places.

We are open. We just want a nice place, consistently good that we won't be disappointed in quality-wise or location-wise. That's why our leaning toward Shelbourne. We have always like the Marriott's we have stayed at and always found them consistently good quality.

Sorry, Dublin is where we are staying for 7 nights.

The Shelbourne was lovely. We stayed there years ago.


If you have booked your tickets, then.. unless you buy travel insurance to cover cancellations (which many do for a small fee) then you are in the same situation with all your non-cancellable reservations. Maybe look into insurance?

www.insuremytrip.com

We really liked the Cassidy:

http://www.cassidyshotel.com/

Easy to walk to things, but not in a crazy area.

We can at least change the dates of our flights, for a fee, if need be.

Can't do that with the prepaid hotel reservation. You lose it all, even for a date change.

Not intending to change, however, have an elderly 90 year old mother-in-law. Never know.

I've had trip insurance before, Don't cover things like relatives getting sick, if they are not traveling with you.

Best to book a hotel, I think, without those restrictions.

I was unaware that there is no insurance to cover expenses when a family member of first or second degree is hospitalized. hope you find something.

The Stephen's Green area is the place to stay alright if you want somewhere central, but not party central!

I was wondering if you'd be able to book The Shelbourne through a booking agency that might have a more favourable cancellation policy, e.g. CentralR or Hotels.com

I had to cancel a reservation in Dublin before, and because I had booked and paid through the agency, my contract was with them and was subject to their cancellation policy - my money was refunded immediately. I can't remember which agency it was though.

I've just checked hotels.com. and while they don't have a cancellation penalty, The Shelbourne does require them to pass on their own cancellation policy.

Another alternative is to ring the hotel directly and haggle. Hotel bookings are way down in Ireland at the moment, and if you're looking for a room for a week, you're in a pretty good bargaining position.

Just say you like the advance booking room rate, but not the cancellation policy, and is there anything they can do for you. Let them know you're trying to decide between a few hotels. The worst they can do is say no.

Here's what I posted about our stay near St. Stephens Green this past January:

Just a bit about the Lesson Bridge Guest House. I found it on a web site which listed many guesthouses. Checking it against Trip Advisor reviews, and the discounted winter rates they were offering, it seemed a great choice. We had a studio with full kitchen, internet access, comfortable bed, TV with BBC and free breakfast with good variety of food. We paid 375 Euros for 5 nights, with the weekend nights higher priced than the weekday prices. No extra charges, not even for the ethernet cable which they provided. The only problem was the bathroom. The shower had no raised area to contain the water. The bathroom was very small, and the shower drain is in the center of the bathroom floor, directly in front of the toilet. When you shower, the whole bathroom floor gets covered in water. It does drain quickly though. Also the toilet was difficult to flush at times. This was irritating, but the room was a decent size, and we loved the full kitchen with washer/dryer unit also in it. The local bus stops and the Aircoach stop were just out front which was so convenient. We would return here if we ever return to Dublin.

We ended up booking the Merrion which had a one day prior cancellation policy. The Shelbourne was actually a little cheaper - even their 1 day prior cancellation rate at 209E which included breakfast, but I liked the looks of the Merrion.

Still time to decide if we choose to switch to the Shelbourne.

You'll be very happy at either hotel. Tea at the Shelbourne is great--served in a front room with large windows overlooking the Green--try to do that no matter where you stay.

I've had travel insurance that covered a sick close relative, who is NOT traveling - although we're talking serious illness requiring care from the traveler...not just a cold or a touch of the flu. That relative's death is covered too....and issue when you have elderly parents (mine's 88)

We stayed at Kilronan House in 2000. It was very near St. Stephen's Green. They had a nice breakfast, small rooms, but comfortable.

Wanderer

I live in Dublin, had to change the spelling of my Sign-in name,( used to be Lucilou) as its been ages since i logged on here, and couldnt remember my old details.

Anyway, you will be more than happy with Either hotel, both the Merrion and the Shelbourne, of course the Shelbourne would be more nostalgic for Dubliners, but take whichever has the best price, and terms and conditions, they are only a few minutes walk from each other.

I've stayed at the St Stephen's Green hotel, which is on the corner of St Stephen's Green. Great location, an easy 3 minute walk up to Grafton Street and loads of other places.

The rooms were pleasant and fairly spacious. If you get a room on a higher floor at the back you get views to the Wicklow mountains. We did not eat in the restaurant at all, preferring to eat out - especially breakfast at the Lemon crepe place on Dawson Street.

http://dublin.city-centre-hotels.com...tel/index.html